This application is based on the disclosure of French application 00.12861 filed in France on Oct. 9, 2000, the entirety of which application is hereby expressly incorporated by reference.
The invention relates to gearboxes, particularly for automotive vehicles with telescopic load-bearing arms.
The invention also relates to an automotive vehicle with a telescopic load-bearing arm provided with a gearbox according to the invention.
Automotive vehicles with telescopic load-bearing arms are known, produced and sold by the MANITOU BF Company in France, in which a diesel motor is oriented transversely to the longitudinal axis of the machine.
The diesel motor drives an angled transmission, of which an output drives a gearbox oriented longitudinally and disposed substantially in a central position and of which another output continuously drives a hydraulic pump upon startup of the motor.
These machines are generally satisfactory, but have a large number of mechanical members (resilient coupling, cardan transmission, angled transmission, torque converter, gearbox), of which certain ones are mounted in individual casings before being assembled together.
This technique results in a substantial size of the assembly produced and a costly fabrication of the mechanical transmission means of these machines.
The invention has for its object to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art, by providing a new gearbox, adapted particularly for new automotive vehicles with a telescopic load-carrying arm, of simple and economical construction and of reduced size.
The invention has for its object a gearbox, particularly for an automotive vehicle with a telescopic load-carrying arm, adapted to transmit directly or indirectly the drive movement of a transversely oriented internal combustion engine, to at least one front or rear axle having drive wheels, by means of at least one longitudinally oriented shaft, characterized in that the casing of the gearbox contains an angled transmission, whose transversely oriented input is adapted to be driven by a clutch means, and whose longitudinally oriented output defines a first shaft line of the gearbox.
According to other advantageous characteristics of the invention:
the gearbox comprises moreover a through power takeoff shaft arranged to drive a pump generating hydraulic or hydrostatic energy
the angled transmission comprises a double conical pinion: a forward drive pinion and a rear drive pinion, with at least one associated clutch,
the gearbox is driven by a torque converter connected to the output of the internal combustion motor by constituting the first drive member from the gearbox, whilst the angled transmission is the second driving member secured to the turbine of the converter.
the casing of the gearbox contains at least three parallel shaft lines: a first shaft line corresponding to the angled transmission, a second intermediate shaft for transmission between the first shaft line and a third shaft line, this third shaft line corresponding to the shaft (or shafts) for driving the front or rear axle (or front or rear drive axles),
the first shaft line corresponding to the angled transmission comprises a double conical pinion engaging with a conical pinion adapted to be driven by the output shaft of the motor, and a double clutch for selectively driving a toothed forward drive wheel or a toothed rearward drive wheel, and these two toothed front and rear drive wheels engaging continuously with toothed wheels of the second intermediate transmission shaft,
the second shaft line comprises several toothed wheels for transmission of movement imparted by the first shaft line to the corresponding toothed wheels of the third shaft line with which they are continuously in engagement,
the corresponding toothed wheels of the third shaft line are mounted freely in rotation on the third shaft, and are adapted to drive this third shaft under the action of clutch or toothed means,
the third shaft line moreover comprises a toothed wheel mounted securely on the third shaft and engaging with a toothed wheel disengageable from the second shaft line, so as to provide a number of forward drive speeds that is greater than the number of rearward drive speeds,
the third shaft line comprises two shaft output adapted to drive simultaneously a front drive axle and a rear drive axle of an automotive vehicle, particularly a vehicle with a telescopic load-carrying arm.
The invention also has for its object an automotive vehicle with a telescopic load-carrying arm, of the type comprising two front and rear axles provided with wheels, and an internal combustion engine driving a gearbox.